About “Understanding”

“That sample was Biz (Markie)’s idea. Biz called me one day, and was like, ‘Yo! You know what would be dope? To get Nas to rhyme over that Grover Washington joint.’ (“Mister Magic) And I was like, ‘Word? You think so?’ And then I called Nas, and was like, ‘Yo, this is what Biz said.’ And he was like, ‘Then we gotta do it.’

“So I hooked the beat up, and we went to the Greene Street Studios, and knocked it out. We never mixed it or took it through the whole process, it was just a flinger. But Grandmaster Vic was there, Biz was there, AZ. Raekwon came through [to hang out]. Nas was just starting to work on It Was Written. Those were sessions between Illmatic and It Was Written. That was one of the first sessions when he started getting in the swing of working again.”